Disclaimer: I received free entry to the Global 24 Hour Relay as part of being a BibRave Pro. Learn more about becoming a BibRave Pro (ambassador), and check out BibRave.com to review, find and write race reviews!
Global Running Day came at an odd time this year. Of course, since March, our country has been drastically affected by the coronavirus.
This year’s Global Running Day — the first Wednesday in June, which was June 3 this year — also fell in the midst of news, protests and conversations relating to the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Black Lives Matter, police brutality and white privilege.
The day before Global Running Day was #BlackoutTuesday, in which many social media users (including me) posted a black square and didn’t post about their everyday lives in an effort to show support for the movement and in hopes that people would hear what the Black community had to say.
With the current climate in our country, I was pleased to see that a couple days before the event, the organizers of the Global 24 Hour Relay, the Rochester Running Co., decided to donate a portion of proceeds from the event to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. Since I got a free entry through BibRave and supported the cause, I made a donation before I started running.
I learned about the event a couple weeks before it happened, so there wasn’t a ton of time to fill the teams. However, I knew my shift on the Washington, D.C. team would be from 7-7:30 p.m. on Global Running Day. Participants did not have to live in the city of the team they were representing. I also knew I’d be virtually “handing off” the baton to my friend Kristin via text.
Wearing my BibRave singlet and hat, I walked outside of my Salisbury home and was ready to start my run at exactly 7:00. I usually run for more than half an hour, as an easy three-mile run, for example, would take more than half an hour for me. So, I decided to give it what I had and see how far I could run in the half-hour time frame.
I set off at 7:00, since I knew I’d be handing off to Kristin at 7:30. I was supposed to get a text “handing off” to me, which came at 7:07, while I was already running.
For my run, I didn’t want to go too far from home, as I knew I wouldn’t be running for all that long. I started out running roads near my home and came back on the City Park trail. I got to my house just before I hit 30 minutes and ran a little bit past to hit the time.
I was originally planning to run the whole time, but it was hot out — my Garmin shows a temperature at 86 degrees with 52 percent humidity — and I did take a walk at least once. But I kept moving!
It wasn’t a competition — teams were not competing for the most miles logged per team or anything like that. Still, I wanted it to feel different than just a usual run.
I covered 2.66 miles in 30 minutes, running the first mile in 10:46, the second in 11:45 and the 0.66 in 7:29 (11:19 pace). That made for an average pace of 11:17.
After I saw my watch hit 30 minutes, I stopped it and sent a text to Kristin, passing the baton to her. I’d also texted her earlier in the day and gotten a photo so we could do a virtual high five.
I will be receiving a shirt and medal in the mail for participating, but I haven’t gotten those yet.
Even though I didn’t get to celebrate with my friends for Global Running Day, it was fun to have a community event to be part of.
Update 9/17/20 – Check out my BibRave review for this event here.
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